A Kiss Before Lying
by strictlyficly
Summary: They didn't have their memories. They all envied that, though deep down inside they knew if anyone should be able to have that privilege it should be them. Yet with that being said, that privilege came with difficulties because they no longer had their loyalty. It wasn't until now that they realized how much they relied on them when they were trouble. How much they leaned on them.
1. Chapter 1

When this Bonnie girl came back Stefan's reaction was surprise.

Based on their reactions to her resurrection they seemed to have considered her as one of their own. Someone that they were extremely close to. That she wasn't just an acquaintance.

The way that they had spoke of her―well when they had spoken of her―he had came to the conclusion that she was just the occasional ally or someone that they talked to in passing that was always up to help them if the situation was that important.

But as he watched Caroline and Elena hold onto her, tears running down the two girl's faces, to how the man that was apparently his brother stared at her as if he were happy about her return though he was obviously trying to hide it, to how the Jeremy guy looked like he wanted to pry both Caroline and Elena off of her already...he just grew even more confused. And for some reason it made him wonder what his relationship was with her. If they were closer than what Elena and Caroline had led him to believe.

And he wonders if they were as close as they seemed to be now, why the hell did it take them this long to figure out something wasn't right. Typically when your friends with someone you should know them well enough to the point of being able to tell when they're lying or at least if something was off about them. He figures that maybe they had had a falling out before she took off or something. But he remembers Caroline saying something about the occasional letter, and text every now and then.

He can't help but wonder if something happened with him. What else they could possibly be hiding from him.

When he looks back to the current object of his thoughts he sees that she's looking right back at him and he notices the confusion in her eyes before both Caroline and Elena are suddenly forced away from her and he raises his eyebrows wondering what happened.

"Bonnie?" Elena tentatively calls her friend, still taken back by the witch using her magick against her.

He watches as she looks away from him to the brunette approaching Bonnie as if she were dealing with a lost child.

"What's wrong?" She asks taking a step towards her only to be pushed away again.

Damon frowns at the exchange but decides to ignore the lost look on the witch's face as she looks around the room and get back to their current problem "Look, I know you probably need some downtime or whatever so I'll let you have ten minutes but then I need you to do something for me." he rolls his eyes when she scowls at him "Jeremy said you were here with us so I already know that you know what I need you to get to work on."

"Damon," Elena frowns at him not believing how he's speaking to her. Though it really shouldn't surprise her considering that he has never really talked to Bonnie like he should. "What Damon is _trying_ to say is that he needs your help with Stefan."

"Who?" Bonnie questions, returning her attention to the brunette standing a couple of feet in front of her after looking away who she just addressed as Damon once he rolls his eyes clearly annoyed as if _she's_ the one that's bothering him. A frown settling across her features when the brunette looks at her as if she's just offended her.

"Bonnie, that's not funny." Elena scolds her, not believing that she even just said that.

Bonnie's frown deepens at her response wondering why she thinks that she's trying to be funny. And why everyone is now looking at her as if she's grown a third head, with the exception of the guy standing off to the side who looks just as confused as she feels.

"I don't think she's kidding." Caroline breathes, finally taking in how uncomfortable Bonnie looks. She thought Bonnie had been tense because of it being the first physical contact she's felt in months but now she knows it's because she wasn't sure what was going on and then she just feels anger and immediately sets her gaze on Damon who groans.

"I don't want to hear it Blondie." Damon says feeling her eyes on him.

"I just want to know why you thought going to the woman that erased Stefan's memories to bring Bonnie back was a good idea." She says, arms crossed against her chest.

"Excuse me for thinking that she wouldn't do the same thing to her own blood."

"Why? Stefan's your brother and you betrayed him." Caroline retorts.

"Caroline," Elena shrieks. It was hard enough for her to even get Stefan to be in the same room with them, she didn't want anyone to bring up what drove him off in the first place.

Having come to the conclusion that she's not going to get anywhere with them Bonnie takes advantage of the distraction the blonde and the raven haired man bring and turns to leave only to collide with a man with blonde hair and blue eyes. Who apologizes before blinking several times whispering her name and immediately pulls her into his arms. At first she tenses and is just about to push him away but he pulls back looking at her, hurt clear in his eyes apparently having felt her tense at his touch. However unlike the others, she actually feels bad for having apparently hurt his feelings.

"Bonnie," Elena calls after the witch noticing her slinking off "where are you going?"

"Home," Bonnie answers as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Rolling her eyes when she gets baffled looks in return.

"I thought you didn't-"

"If I didn't remember anything I wouldn't answer to my own name. But you would know that if you had bothered to actually ask me anything in the first place." Bonnie throws out annoyed by the brunette vampire. She wasn't sure why but something about her just irked her to no end. But now that she thought about it, no one seemed to have asked her if she was even okay. She frowns when she hears a small laugh coming from her right,

"What's so funny?"

Stefan clears his throat and tries to fight back the tug he feels at the corner of his lips figuring he's failing when Bonnie's eyes narrow into slits,

"Stefan," He says slowly raising his hand hoping that it'll clue her in.

"I didn't ask for your name, I asked what you found so funny." She frowns ignoring the looks she's getting in return.

"It's just that I thought I was handling this bad." Stefan shrugs unfazed by her tone.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Bonnie crosses her arms over her chest.

"I'm just as lost as you are but I'm nowhere as near as hostile to them."

"I'm not hostile." Bonnie denies. She woke up in a room full of strangers with no idea of how she got there. How was she supposed to react?

"Then what do you call it?"

"Apprehensive. Smart. If you woke up in a room full of vampires with the exception of one who is looking at you like a piece of meat even more so than the ones that actually see people like me as a meal, you wouldn't exactly be comfortable either." Her eyes briefly flit to Jeremy watching as he turns red, his gaze going to his feet.

"They're your friends."

"I find that hard to believe." She scoffs, remembering the way she was greeted by the dark haired vampire upon waking up.

Stefan raises an eyebrow experimentally taking a step closer, smirking when she doesn't even flinch "And why is that?"

Bonnie studies him for a moment contemplating answering but decides against it when his name registers "You're distracting me." Bonnie frowns looking away from him and back to her so called friends noticing the confused looks on their faces with the exception of the dark haired man that was bickering with the blonde a few moments ago "Look I'm sure you're all lovely people but I…" Bonnie trails off and sighs "Fuck it." she mutters under her breath seeing no point in sugar coating it "I don't want to be here."


	2. Chapter 2

The room is silent, Bonnie's declaration hitting everyone like a slap to the face.

Bonnie expects the girl with the doe eyes to be the first to speak up but she can't say that she's surprised when it's the tall dark haired vampire to the brunette's left that breaks the silence and she feels her blood boil.

"Well that's too bad," Damon gives her a smile that manages to look both sympathetic and arrogant "because you're not going anywhere until you fix this."

Everyone can only watch as Damon falls to his knees, the vampire's hands clutching at his stomach, eyes slamming shut as loud groans fall from his lips before he falls over, blood spilling from his mouth.

"Bonnie! Bonnie, what are you doing? Stop! You're hurting him! Please!" Elena pleads struggling to rush to Damon's side wondering why no one else is trying to come to his aide only to see that they look just as helpless. With the exception of Caroline who looks on with a look between indifference and morbid fascination, and Matt who looks torn between feeling bad and fighting a smile, clearly pleased that someone is tired of the elder Salvatore's mouth and is actually doing something about it besides rolling their eyes.

"Listen to me you pretentious entitled bastard." Bonnie starts, having decided to ignore the brunette, her concern for the man that just tried to order her around furthering her own thoughts that they weren't as close as she initially tried to lead her to believe "I know that you were born in a time where men were considered to be at the top of the pyramid, so you actually have a valid excuse for that shitty mentality you're walking around with right now. But we are not in the eighteen hundreds anymore." she pauses to let her words sink in "Based on your little display here, I'm getting the feeling that we didn't establish this concept the first time we met so we're going to do it now. I do not take orders from you, you do not own me and the next time you try to throw your weight around in my presence I will take a stake and have you do the honors of shoving it through your heart yourself. Your first and last good deed to the rest of the world. I think it'll be fitting considering how you obviously think that you're the greatest thing to ever walk it. Are we clear?" Bonnie raises an eyebrow, pretending to be confused when Damon finally opens his mouth but no words come out.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" She leans forward, cupping her ear.

"Crystal," Damon grits out through his teeth when Bonnie lightens her attack just enough for him to speak.

"Perfect," Bonnie smiles down at him, using her magick to lift him from the ground, sending him flying back until he crashes into the wall with a loud thump.

"Does anyone else want to try to keep me from leaving?" Bonnie inquires looking around the room nodding her head when she doesn't hear any protests "Good choice," She smiles as she turns on her heel to leave the boarding house. Missing the smile on Stefan's face and the slight tilt of his head as he watches the sway of her hips while she makes her exit.

"Stefan," Caroline calls after the vampire when she spots him shamelessly watching Bonnie leave, not even bothering to look away even as he responds.

"Hm?"

"No," She shakes her head when he finally turns to meet her gaze, giving him a look when his lips part to deny her unvocalized accusation.

"You don't trust me?"

Caroline blinks taken back by his question then rolls her eyes "Nice try," She snorts, frowning when she sees him speed off, tensing when she spots him blocking Bonnie's path fully expecting him to be thrown across the room only to be left shocked when Bonnie merely jumps at his sudden appearance before seeming annoyed.

"Just give them...five minutes."

Bonnie narrows her eyes at Stefan when she sees the brief quirk of his lips as he stares down at her.

"Is that what you did?"

"You seem to be on good terms with them, so is that what you did?" She clarifies when she sees that he didn't understand her question.

"Not exactly," He answers.

"Not exactly?" Bonnie repeats, confusion evident in her voice.

"The pretentious entitled bastard is my brother." He explains, watching as she scowls at the reveal, her eyes flitting to Damon who flinches and he can't help but smile at the fact that someone that barely reaches his shoulder has his brother shaking in his boots.

"No offense Stefan," Bonnie starts, shifting her gaze from Damon to the vampire standing before her "but I really don't want to hear anything about your brother so can you please just get to your point?"

Stefan grins finding her blatant dislike for Damon and general bluntness amusing "Just hear them out."

Bonnie holds Stefan's gaze, letting out a deep breath when she feels several bouts of anxiety hit her at once, realizing that they're from the other occupants of the room and lets out a long breath.

"Fine," she agrees, staring up at the vampire curiously when he takes her hand in his leading her over to the table, pulling out a chair for her to sit.

Somehow five minutes turned into forty and Bonnie is left wondering what the hell is wrong with her. The only valid explanation she can come up with is that she had a severe martyr complex and they all just glossed over that and chalked it up to her being a really good friend. Once that dawns on her she finds herself trying to figure out what it was about them that made her feel such loyalty towards these people. Because from where she was sitting as of right now, she couldn't see it.

"Bonnie?" Caroline calls the young witch's name slowly, her friend's continued silence putting her on edge. She had tried several times to get Elena to stop talking, having seen Bonnie's anger continue to grow with each word and excuse that the passed the brunette's lips but the doppelgänger just kept going and going and going. It's not that she wanted to withhold information from Bonnie but she didn't think that unloading it all at once was the best way to go. Especially if Elena was going to end it with _suggesting_ that she got her memories back.

"I should leave."

"What?" Elena frowns shaking her head "No Bonnie, you can't-"

"I can't?" Bonnie erupts, her hands slamming down onto the table in front of her as she rises from her seat with such force that it leaves a crack. Watching as the brunette currently seated across from her physically recoils back in her seat, wariness clear in her brown eyes as she stares back at her.

Elena lets out a shaky breath before opening her mouth "Bonnie, I know that you're upset right now but you can't just walk around without your memories. That's eighteen years-"

"Yeah," Bonnie agrees, cutting her off with a nod "Of a shitty existence. And before you even try to play the best friend card I think we can all agree that that's bullshit. I'm not your best friend, hell I'm not even your friend. I'm an afterthought. And even that's being generous."

"I mean," Bonnie starts "I told you that I was going to spend the summer with the mother that abandoned me and you didn't call me to see how I was handling that? _And_ on top of that I had just resurrected my boyfriend―ex―whatever, and I didn't spend at least one day with him to make up for the time that we weren't together? And if that's not enough to raise a few flags, I didn't say goodbye to you or anyone here before I just took off? And you were okay with that. I mean, seriously!" she screams, a fire flaring to life in the fireplace "What would it have taken for you to notice that something wasn't right? And you," she turns to Jeremy who has guilt written all over his face "why didn't you do something to try to bring me back to life? I know you're not a warlock or anything but you had to have at least met someone in my family or you could have at least tried to reach out to a witch to find some way to bring me back. If I loved you enough to perform a spell to bring you back to life and end up losing _my_ life in the process, you should have at least shown me the same kind of love to do _something_."

Jeremy knows that he should be coming up with an excuse or defense for himself but he's too busy dwelling on her use of past tense when it came to her love for him.

Bonnie looks around the room waiting for someone to say something and when minutes go by and she's met with nothing but guilty looks she closes her eyes and lets out a deep breath,

"This would be the part where you say something to try to defend yourselves."

"You told me to keep your death a secret."

Bonnie frowns turning her gaze to Jeremy, letting out a scoff when she realizes that he's serious and that he actually thinks that that is a valid excuse,

"And you just went along with it."

He nods,

"You said that you didn't want to ruin everyone's summer. You wanted them to enjoy it, not spend it trying to find a way to bring you back."

As Jeremy explains why he kept her death a secret Bonnie finds herself wondering yet again what the hell was wrong with her. Why she was even remotely okay with being dead while her friends got to live it up. Enjoying their summers as High School Graduates all without her. And it makes her wonder why they never once thought to call her to ask her to join in on that fun. If they were all such good friends, wouldn't they want her to attend at least one party with them before they went off to college or at least question her absence on Grad Night. Speaking of college, shouldn't they have at least tried to reach out to her to see where she was? Why she would miss the first day? Unless…

"I didn't want to ruin everyone's summer?" Bonnie says looking back up to her ex "So college hasn't started yet?" She inquires after he nods.

"No it has-"

"So I'm not in college?"

"No you are-"

"So I didn't show up for my first day of classes and no one thought to call me and see why."

"You had me send emails and texts-"

"Emails and texts?" Bonnie repeats through a laugh "And that worked? They were all okay with that?" she fires off the questions to him as if they weren't all in the room "What the hell is wrong with me?" She mutters under her breath as she pushes her hair back not believing her ears.

Both Caroline and Elena exchange worried glances when Bonnie does nothing but start to pace back and forth with a contrite look on her face.

"Who brought me back to life?"

"Qetsiyah," Elena takes it upon herself to answer Bonnie's question "She's your ancestor." She elaborates when Bonnie gives her a blank stare in response.

"So I died and instead of contacting my mother who I was supposedly spending the summer with you went to some random relative?"

"What?" Bonnie frowns when Elena only lowers her eyes.

"Your mother isn't a witch."

"Okay, then why didn't you just go to my dad?"

"He's not a witch either."

Bonnie blinks, the reveal not making sense.

"Your mom used to be a witch but she was turned into a vampire." Elena explains when she finally gathers the nerve to look back up and sees the look of confusion on her bestfriend's face.

"Okay," Bonnie says finding it off putting that she's not bothered by the reveal "And my _dad_. Where is he?"

Elena swallows and shifts under the witch's stare "He's...he's dead."

"By the guilty looks on your faces, I'm going to go ahead and assume that he hasn't been dead for very long." Bonnie nearly laughs when they manage to look even more guilty at her assessment.

"No, he hasn't." Elena confirms wondering why she doesn't seem to be affected by the news but figures that it's because she doesn't remember him either.

"How long?" Bonnie crosses her arms.

"About a month." Elena answers after a moment, jumping along with everyone else when the lights flicker.

"And no one thought it was strange that I didn't come back for his funeral? No one thought to call and check on me? See how I was handling that? Or did you all just get an email and a couple of texts and keep moving. Going back to whatever the hell you were doing all summer while I was off trying to build a relationship with the mother that abandoned me and the recent loss of the one parent who was a constant in my life. I don't even know why I'm surprised. But then again maybe you couldn't blame me, after everything how could I not want to get out of this town? Going away for the summer sounds like the smartest thing I've done in years."

"Bonnie!" Elena shrieks taken back by her rant, looking up to see that Caroline, Matt and Jeremy seem just as taken back as she feels. One look at Damon and even Stefan show that they seem to share the same sentiments though more subdued than everyone else.

"Oh, you have got to be shitting me right now." Bonnie shakes her head "You claim that _you're_ my best friend, the closest that you have to a sister but you've yet to show me something other than a couple of tears and now you want to act like I'm the one that's offending you. What kind of…" Bonnie trails off and takes a deep breath feeling her magick rise to the surface, practically begging to be released but she stops herself.

"I'm going to do us all a favor and leave before I do something that I won't take back." Bonnie says looking around the room as she starts to walk backwards, holding Stefan's stare for a moment seeing the understanding in his eyes before she turns on her heel making her way out of the boarding house.

Upon Bonnie's exit the room falls into a deafening silence.

Stefan tilts his head at the look of melancholy on Elena's face. While Caroline, Matt and Jeremy all look as if they've had their hearts ripped right out of their chests. And while he knows that he should feel a bit sympathetic towards them he can't even bring himself to pity the latter of the bunch.

"Nice going Stefan."

Stefan frowns and turns to Damon watching as his brother rises from his seat and slowly make his way towards the decanter pouring himself a drink.

"You're blaming me for this?"

Damon smiles and mockingly raises his glass towards him.

"Is...is this a thing? You say something and get your ass handed to you and then you turn around and blame me?"

"Stop," Elena says lowly not in the mood to hear them fight. Slightly taken aback when neither protest or continue as if they hadn't heard her.

"So what are we going to do?" Jeremy questions looking at everyone in the room.

"We can't just leave her like that." the Hunter frowns when everyone turns to look at him, blank looks on their faces, with the exception of Damon who just looks annoyed "Bonnie wouldn't want us to just sit around and do nothing."

"Isn't that exactly what you did?" Stefan looks at Jeremy, unfazed when he glares at him in response.

Damon smirks, raising his glass to his lips taking a sip, happy that someone said it. While Caroline and Elena stare at the younger Salvatore in shock, unsure of what's gotten into him.

"Maybe we should leave Bon alone," Matt says ignoring the looks he gets in return "It's not like she's some damsel in distress. You saw what she did to Damon. I don't think we should even try to push her on this, she doesn't really seem to have the same restraint that our Bonnie does. Besides, can you really blame her for not wanting anything to do with us? If that happened to me, I wouldn't. And whether you want to admit it or not...we deserved everything she said."

Elena lets out a frustrated breath, everything in her wanting to disagree but she knows that Matt has a point.

"And who knows, maybe her memories will come back on their own. Eventually." Caroline adds though it's clear to everyone that she doesn't believe that that's a possibility any more than they do.

Damon scowls at the resident blondes, he's just about to open his mouth to shut down Matt's idea but Elena beats him to it and before he can protest he sees that everyone seems to be on the same page with the exception of Jeremy who makes his stance on the group's consensus known by the slamming of the front door after he storms out of the room. But when he sees the look in his brother's eyes he can tell that he's not the only one that's about to go rogue. Evidenced by the fact that they both attempt to make quick exits only to stop when both Elena and Caroline call his and his brother's name respectively.

"Fine, but if your little theory doesn't work out, I'm doing it my way."

"And what would that be?" Caroline raises an eyebrow as she looks at Damon who is currently refilling his now empty glass "Trying to intimidate her again? Because that worked _so_ well the last time."

"You'll find out soon enough." Damon smirks at her before strolling off to another part of the boarding house.


	3. Chapter 3

Bonnie looks around her room noting how plain it looks now as opposed to how it did when she first got here. To say that she was conflicted would be an understatement with her emotions ranging from peace to sadness to indifference to relief. How she feels them all at once makes not even the tiniest bit of sense to her but when she thinks about what led her to do this in the first place, she wonders why it took her so long.

She's spent the last few days holed up in her home going through her belongings from her old diaries to photo albums to old texts in an effort to gather bits and pieces of her life on her own, having not wanted to go to the people she was greeted to upon her resurrection. Despite their constant efforts to reach out to her she still can't bring herself to want anything to do with them. It was strange to Bonnie how the way that they acted over the summer didn't match up to how they were acting now. Going from barely caring about her wellbeing and whereabouts to not being able to take that she had decided to simply not care if they knew at all. From what she was told, it wasn't like it was anything new to them so why it mattered now left her confused. If anything, simply knowing that she was alive would have been enough for them. Though she quickly comes to the conclusion that it has more to do with them not being able to take that they were no longer the center of her world more than anything else. She wonders if her current situation would make her happy if she had her memories or if she would feel as annoyed by it as she does now. But in the end she figures that she would be foaming at the mouth for this, delirious with joy and if she ever got her memories back she would feel like shit for her behaviour and attitude for the present moment. Solely going on what the brunette told her, how could she not?

She remembers how the moment she got home her eyes immediately went to the row of photos lined along the mantle above her fireplace, all of her. Some with the people she saw upon her resurrection, others with a man and a woman that she could only assume were her parents. Though there was only one that had of all three of them and she couldn't help but notice the age difference between the two. Once she got her hands on a photo album she quickly found out that the man was in fact her father but the woman was her grandmother, the feeling that ran through her was a mixture between relief and confusion. Though the latter left her feeling uneasy at the absence of her mother completely. No matter where she looked she couldn't find a picture of her. It was as if the woman didn't exist at all. Which further solidified her bafflement at how they all bought that she had decided to spend the summer with her instead of staying here with them. Add in the apparent fact that her mother hadn't come looking for her not even once…

She decided to let that train of thought trail off, not wanting to spend time trying to rationalize anything that they'd done.

When she finally found her room her eyes went to her nightstand spotting three picture frames, one holding a picture of the brunette that claimed that she was her best friend, the blonde that claimed the same and herself in red gowns and matching red caps the tassels all hanging over their right shoulders. At one glance she seems happy but when she looked at her eyes she got the feeling that it was only superficial and further inspection showed that they were glistening. The only pictures where her smile seemed to actually meet her eyes was the one were it was just her and her grandmother and the other with the same two girls but she could tell that they were significantly younger compared to the picture taken on what she assumed was after their graduation.

The sound of her phone ringing brings her back to the present and with a deep breath she walks over to her bed and picks it up. Staring at the now black screen for a moment debating between bothering to check who just tried to reach out to her or tossing it completely, remembering the text messages she read from before she was brought back to life. Filled with what she could only describe as demands, the occasional summon phrased as a question. She settles on dropping it inside the box after copying a few numbers before folding the cardboard flaps and drops it by her door along with the others filled with the majority of her clothes and shoes with the exception of a few of her boots and heels having decided it was time for a new wardrobe.

She figured if she was going to have a fresh start that she might as well commit.

* * *

Damon sits in one of the arm chairs littered throughout the living room of the Boarding House, a glass of barely touched bourbon in his hand as he stares at the fire roaring in the hearth. The meeting that was held in this very room on a constant loop in his mind. If he could even call it that. With Bonnie and Stefan being absent, it didn't really feel like one. And the more thought he gives it he doesn't really see the point in bothering at all. Without the two it just felt like a group of people in a room, all with something to say but getting absolutely nowhere. He supposes that it was always like this, whenever something worked in their favor, it was when he either broke off with Bonnie or his brother. Though mainly the former when there were no significant casualties on their side.

It's been a month since Bonnie's resurrection and there's been absolutely no progress. And it's clear that the witch is not in any rush to change that going by her having put a stop to any form of communication to each and every one of them. There's a part of him that wants to just go to her, try to make her see reason but the part of him that knows self preservation is tugging him back by the already fragile leash that has ironically been put on by the one person that he is struggling with not going to see.

It's not that he's scared, he just knows that he has to be smart about this. The little display and example she made out of him is still fresh in his mind and even though there would be no witness to his sure beatdown, that is what is stopping him from going to see her. He's gone against the Original Hybrid _and_ his psychotic family, two of the fives, an upgraded Original, and yet the thought of going toe to toe with someone that he literally has to look down to talk to has him thinking of a solid plan to even approach her. And to top it all off she's the person that he normally goes to to help carry out his plans.

"I don't think that's a good idea Jer,"

Elena's voice cuts through his thoughts bringing him back to reality as he hears her going back and forth with her brother, trying to talk the hunter out of going to Bonnie on his own from the second floor and he immediately tunes out. If Jeremy wanted to insist on trying to reach out to Bonnie then it was on him. So with a deep sigh he rises from his seat downing the contents of his glass, placing the now empty glass on the table as he leaves the Boarding House with no particular destination in mind. Not wanting to give Elena the chance to try to talk him into talking Jeremy out of his suicide mission.

Ten minutes later he finds himself at the border line of the Old Witch's house and he can't help the surprise that floods him at coming across the last person he ever expected to see here. He briefly considers using the advantage that her back being turned to him brings but decides against it when he feels the crackle of magick in the air.

Qetsiyah tenses when she senses another presence, she closes her eyes and uses her magick to tap into their psyche and smiles after identifying them and waits for them to make their move. Genuinely surprised when minutes go by and he hasn't even attempted to attack her. She thought that that would be the first thing that he did when he finally tracked her down. Between what she did to Stefan and then to Bonnie, she didn't expect to see even the tiniest bit of restraint from the elder Salvatore knowing that that has never been his strong suit.

"I was wondering when I would hear from you." She says taking it upon herself to break the silence, turning to face him, frowning when she doesn't receive a response other than him pressing his lips together as his hands ball into fist at his sides.

"Why are you doing this?" He questions after a long stretch of silence. Deciding that it would be in his best interest to not immediately try to intimidate her, remembering Bonnie's reaction when he tried that tactic on her. Bonnie is barely an adult and she had him feeling as if he was on the verge of death without breaking a sweat. He doesn't even want to think about what the witch standing before him can do to him. Though he would never admit it out loud. "You don't give a damn about either of them. So what's the point in all of this?"

"But you do?" Qetsiyah counters staring at the vampire with an amused smile on her lips "Stefan spent months drowning in a safe and you didn't have a clue and before that you were screwing the love of his life every five minutes down the hall knowing _and_ not caring in the slightest that he could hear you and you expect me to believe that you care about him knowing that if he gets his memories back he'll remember all of that?" she nearly laughs in his face, deciding to push on "Bonnie watched her friends live their lives not caring enough to check on her until they needed her help. The only reason you even tried to bring her back is because of the doppelgänger. As far as I'm concerned, I've done them both a favor. They're alive and well and free of their misery,m. If you truly care about them that should be enough for you."

Damon opens his mouth to deny her assessment but she raises her hand to stop him and despite trying to speak anyway, no words come out. Only able to watch as the elder witch starts to walk towards him.

"Spare me, we both know that you don't care about why I took your brother's memories. And you surely don't care about why I took Bonnie's. You only care about the fact that they're no longer in your back pocket."

"If you came here in hopes for their assistance," she motions towards the old, weary building behind her "you wasted your time. Turns out that they're actually okay with how I handled things. Emily was vocal for all of two minutes, seeing it as a violation, taking Bonnie's will away but I reminded her of what led her to her death and pointed out that she'd probably end up doing it again. The others didn't take much convincing. After everything that Bonnie has done in the name of friendship and 'family'," Qetsiyah rolls her eyes "I'm not sure they particularly care too much for Bonnie other than her power."

"Send my regards to the doppelgänger." Qetsiyah requests with a hint of a smirk on her lips as she saunters past the raven haired vampire. Not caring enough to wait around or even pretend to listen to his response.

* * *

"She's going to send us away." Caroline says as she and Elena walk up the driveway to Bonnie's house "She hates us."

"She doesn't hate us." Elena denies, deciding not to address the first part of Caroline's statement knowing that that is a strong possibility. If she were Bonnie she wouldn't be receptive to them just showing up at her door either but Bonnie didn't really give them any other option. The witch stopped replying to their texts and when she tried calling she found out that Bonnie's phone was off and she hasn't stepped foot outside of her home. Well not that she has seen. "She's just a little" Elena stops when Caroline looks at her "...okay she's _really_ pissed." she admits with a sigh "But this is Bonnie. Memories or not she's still the same person."

"Yeah, but we're not really giving her much to show that we deserve that Bonnie. And we both know the only reason she let us stay on her good side is because of the times that we didn't treat her like shit."

Elena's eyes widen at Caroline's words momentarily taken back but quickly pushes it aside, "Caroline we didn't-"

"Your little recap says otherwise."

Elena feels a flare of anger run through her from Caroline implying that this is her fault "I didn't want to keep anything from her. You know how that went with Stefan."

Caroline rolls her eyes " _That_ does not compare to _this_. Stefan loses his memories and you lead him all around town reliving your relationship and don't tell him that you aren't together anymore until he tries to kiss you. He wants nothing to do with you and you're upset but deep down you know that you can't blame him because you're with his brother of all people so..." she trails off with a shrug knowing that she doesn't need to extend on her point, ignoring the hurt look she gets from the doppelgänger in return she continues "Bonnie is _resurrected_ and you don't even back off for two seconds to let her settle in before asking her to fix Stefan. And when we find out that she doesn't have her memories you just dump everything on her and you actually expected her to want to get her memories back. Then you tried to play victim when she rightfully lashes out at us." she pauses to let her words sink in "Do you see how they do not compare now?"

Caroline stares at the brunette waiting for her to reply but Elena is saved from having to do so by Bonnie choosing that exact moment to open the door. Leaving the blonde to feel a bit bitter, even without her memories Bonnie was still coming to Elena's rescue. Though the feeling is quickly replaced with sadness when she sees the smile on Bonnie's face literally drop when she sees Elena and herself. But she doesn't get to dwell on the feeling for long for her friend's new appearance doesn't allow it. From her long dark curls traded in for light brown waves with blonde highlights stopping just above her shoulders, dark makeup, a blue off the shoulder crop top to the high waist white ripped jeans and black high heeled boots. Yet what really leaves her stunned is the ink marking her best friend's wrist when she raises her hand to place it on the frame of the front door while the other comes to a rest on her hip as her eyes go back and forth between Elena and herself.

"I know you don't want to talk to us," Elena starts after pushing down both her surprise at Bonnie's new appearance and the hurt at the witch's reaction to her presence, flinching at her childhood friend's response.

"Yet that didn't stop you from coming." Bonnie replies before she can stop herself, sighing when she feels their hurt hit her at full force. She closes her eyes and lets out a deep breath forcing herself to remember what she can muster of home training. She knows that she should apologize but she can't bring herself to do so. Instead she opens her eyes and looks back up to the two vampires waiting for them to say something, raising an eyebrow when they only stare back at her warily.

"So," Bonnie starts when it becomes clear that they aren't going to say anything "what are you doing here?"

"We just wanted to see how you were doing," Elena answers "see if you needed anything."

"I'm fine," Bonnie replies curtly.

"Well clearly," Caroline says with a smile looking the witch up and down. Cutting her eyes at the brunette standing at her left when Elena elbows her only to press her lips together when the reason behind her friend's action clicks "Sorry," she apologizes as she turns back to Bonnie, only to stop when she sees that the witch is staring back at her with a hint of a smile on her lips, seemingly more amused than anything else.

"Caroline?" Bonnie guesses making the blonde in question blink in response "I went through a few diaries and that just sounded like something that she would say. So I just assumed…"

"No, I'm Caroline." The blonde quickly confirms with a bright smile on her face.

"Which means you're Elena," Bonnie states, turning to the doppelgänger, pressing her lips together when the brunette nods.

"Yeah," Elena confirms with a nod, wondering what exactly was in her friend's diary to result in the drastic change of her demeanour compared to the one Caroline got upon the realization of who was who.

"Well, like I said, I'm fine but I'm actually on my way out." Bonnie informs them as she turns to grab her bag and a jacket before stepping pass the threshold pulling the door closed behind her.

"Oh," Caroline raises her eyebrows watching as Bonnie reaches out to pick up a crossbody quilted purse with a gold chains at each end of the black strap, "Where are you going?" She questions following after the witch along with Elena.

"To register for some classes at Whitmore, maybe get something to eat afterwards." She answers nonchalantly as she walks down the steps of her porch.

Caroline open and closes her mouth several times before closing her eyes and deciding to hell with it. Despite Bonnie's indifference to her she doubts that she would do what she did to Damon to her.

"Bonnie, wait!"

Bonnie closes her eyes and lets out a frustrated breath when she feels her body still on its own volition.

"Would you like some company?" Caroline questions before she loses her nerve.

The word no is on the tip of her tongue but when she turns to face the blonde, greeted with wide hopeful eyes she sighs knowing that going through with denying her request would leave her feeling as if she's kicked a puppy. The absurdity of it is not lost on her considering that despite her bubbly demeanour that she can very well rip someone ten times her size to shreds without breaking a sweat if she wanted to. And when she goes on before she gets a chance to even reply she feels her resolve weakening.

"I know that you don't want anything to do with us, and I understand that. Really, I do and I know that I don't have a right to ask you this because I don't deserve it but I really need you to not shut me out. I can't handle that again."

Bonnie's eyebrows knit together in confusion, wondering what she was talking about but quickly pushes it out of her mind not wanting to give a chance to any memories to fight their way back to the surface.

"After I turned you could barely stand the sight of me. You didn't have the best impression of vampires at the time and you assumed that I would become just like Damon. We didn't talk for weeks, I don't want that to happen again. And I know that the months of not knowing you were dead isn't helping right now but I...there's no excuse for that. I was focused on myself and when I get like that, that doesn't really leave any room for anyone else. I just thought that we'd make up for it when you got back but then I found out that you were dead…" she trails off realizing that she might be making it worse "Just please give me a chance to make it up to you."

"So what do you say?"

Caroline scowls and turns to look at Elena "Excuse you, that is not how this works. You don't get to piggyback off of me. You want a second chance you come up with your own defense."

Bonnie cracks a smile despite herself and turns her attention to her feet before looking back up making a point of looking at the blonde as she says,

"I'll think about it."

"There's this party," Caroline starts when Bonnie starts to turn her back to them, watching as Bonnie folds her lips as she returns her gaze to her "It's this annual thing where the freshman are practically required to come. At least think about that."

Bonnie stares at her for a moment "You don't give up, do you?"

"Only when I know that I can't wear you down on something."

* * *

 **A/N: Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.**


	4. Chapter 4

"So this is her way of helping Bonnie?" Elena asks looking up at Damon from her seat on the couch beside Caroline and Matt waiting for him to answer her, confusion clear in her voice as the thought is completely lost on her. She just doesn't understand how Qetsiyah thinks that Bonnie going around without her memories is in her best friend's best interest, and she surely doesn't buy that the eldest Bennett did this out of the goodness of her heart. Sparing a brief glance to Jeremy she sees that he looks just as unconvinced as she feels once the elder Salvatore nods his confirmation to her question.

"Okay," Caroline narrows her eyes at Damon "but that doesn't explain Stefan."

Internally he groans, initially he had decided to leave out that Qetsiyah said anything about his brother at all but he knew that Caroline wouldn't go for that and Elena―albeit more subdued―wouldn't buy it either. The witch claiming that she had done the same to his brother for the same reason she did for Bonnie wouldn't be well recepted by either vampire. So he settled for saying that the elder witch told him that it had to be a side effect of the spell she performed to incapacitate Silas, preventing the immortal from accessing his full powers. It wasn't like it was a complete lie, being as though that was the point of her using Stefan in the first place. Afterwards he swiftly moved on to Bonnie hoping that that would be where their attention would be focused. He supposes that he should have known better but the situation almost makes him think that Bonnie's current outlook on them has some merit. Not enough to actually leave her be, but he can see where the witch is coming from.

"I already told you Blondie," He starts but she quickly cuts him off.

"Qetsiyah is a two thousand year old witch who has mastered multiple forms of magick and subsequently created a whole new form that she completely disregards because she feels that she doesn't need to abide by it. She created the other side and bound it to something that she knows Silas won't be able to go through with destroying―who she basically created by the way which laid the groundwork for what we are now. She brought back _Bonnie_ who; lowered the veil, resurrected Jeremy, had the power of one hundred dead witches, had Klaus on the verge of death, unlinked the Originals, and dessicated both Klaus and Silas. And Qetsiyah did that on her first attempt without breaking a sweat. No nosebleed, nothing went wrong, no one got hurt and she outright tells you that she erased Bonnie's memories on purpose. Not to mention she resurrected herself. But you honestly believe that her erasing Stefan's memories was just a "whoops" on her part? You're not telling us everything."

All of the occupants in the room stare at Caroline taking in her rant but all can agree that she has a point, add in Damon always being one to keep secrets―always claiming that it's for the best―the only person he ever really divulged anything in with willingly being Bonnie, occasionally Elena but only after bribing or begging on her part. They all turn to Damon coming to the same consensus as Caroline and wait for him to explain. But before they can attempt to coax it out of him, they hear the door to the boarding house open and close followed by footsteps and when the arrival steps into the room Elena blinks and immediately rises to her feet.

"Stefan," She breathes staring at the vampire, feeling hope flutter in her chest that maybe he's decided to come back and hear them out but when he turns to meet her eyes she sees that they hold a hint of cruelty and take on an annoyed look at the sight of her, she shrinks into herself.

"I would apologize for disappointing you but as I've recently learned you managed to do that enough for the both of us. Nice touch with the waiting for the last minute to push him away. But trying to ride out the blonde one's wave was just tacky and poor taste. Even for you." He adds briefly glancing at Damon so she knows what else he was referring to.

"Silas,"

"And now you know how I feel everytime I look at you." He says with a smile noticing the rage in her eyes slowly fade into sadness and he looks away, grinning when he sees the look on his carbon copy's older brother's face at his presence. Though unsure if it was because of his girlfriend's initial reaction at his arrival or himself in general but quickly decides that he doesn't care. Choosing to get to the point of his visit.

"Let's just say that this is just Qetsiyah's twisted way of fixing what should have been." he starts, walking until he's in the center of the room where he can look at everyone making a point of ignoring the not so warm welcome "I left her at the altar and ran off with her handmaiden after making her believe that she was the one that I wanted to spend eternity with. Not only did I humiliate her, I basically tricked her into knocking the witches off of their rightful place at the top of the supernatural hierarchy putting myself and another woman above her. She can't get back at said woman emotionally since she let her anger get in the way, so she'll settle for the woman's descendant that looks _exactly_ like her. Which is where Stefan and Bonnie come in. Both are important to the descendant and just so happen to be of her and my own bloodline so it just makes it all the more better. Take away Stefan's memories of Elena, because she knows that Elena wouldn't be able to handle that. Elena spending a day to get Stefan to try to remember her was proof of that. So why not do the same to Bonnie? Pour salt into the wound, her best friend that would have―and did―everything for her, erase every single memory of their friendship, taking that loyalty right along with it."

"And after the summer they just had even if they regain their memories, there's no way that Bonnie could ever look past the fact that her best friend didn't realize something was wrong with her until she didn't come running back to help her. She, along with everyone else were all too busy focusing on themselves, and Jeremy never once moved a muscle to try to bring her back to life. She asked him to keep her death a secret, never asked him to just let her stay dead. He's been where she is, knows how cold and depressing and lonely it is. What kind of love is that? Stefan was in a safe drowning repeatedly for months, holding out hope that his brother and girlfriend―ex girlfriend" he corrects himself raising his hand towards Elena in apology "my mistake, will come save him except they're too busy screwing each other to notice that something's wrong with him in the first place. After everything that he's done for them, all that he sacrificed, gave up for the two most important people in his life...and for what?"

Silas looks around taking the guilty looks he's getting paired with complete silence "My point exactly." he grins bringing his hands together as if they've all answered his question "Absolutely nothing. So now you are all left with two options and in an extra twisted turn of events it's the one that you don't want that is the one that works in your favor. You can either leave them alone, give them the chance to be happy with or without you. Or you can get their memories back and see if their loyalty to you still even exists. But if your past shows anything it's that you're not exactly the most sensitive to their feelings. You only care about what you want and how to get it, and it always manages to be at their expense so what's the difference here?"

"You want to know what I just took from that?"

"Not in the slightest but I know you're going to tell me anyway." Silas replies turning to Damon.

"Nothing about how this is Qetsiyah righting her wrong."

Silas tilts his head mulling his words over and a smile slowly creeps across his face "I suppose I did get a little carried away. It's just that, I betray Qetsiyah and now we're enemies. You betray Stefan and you" he looks at Elena "use Bonnie for years and they're still loyal to you. I guess I'm just trying to wrap my head around how you did it." he turns to face everyone "After the elixir was taken, history has had a tendency to repeat itself so if Elena is taken out of the equation and Bonnie and Stefan get together then in a roundabout way things played out in the sense that they were meant to, two thousand years ago." he pauses recalling the arrangement of Qetsiyah and himself "Our bloodlines mixing. With the child being of Qetsiyah and I's blood, it's power will be unmatched even to Qetsiyah, Bonnie and even my own power combined. One whisper into their offsprings' ear from the Spirits and you're all ashes. No more vampires, no more immortals. The only supernaturals left standing will be witches and werewolves. Just as nature always intended it to be. I said it was twisted." he points out seeing the uncomfortable looks on their faces "Lucky for you my intentions have nothing to do with Bonnie and Stefan returning the balance that immortality has interrupted. I only need Bonnie and Katherine. And for Stefan to be either distracted or put down. Temporarily of course, thus the safe instead of staking him and being done with it. But what's the harm in letting him have a little fun with the witch?"

"Okay," Elena speaks up being the first to recover "even if that was the case or made _any_ sense. Bonnie has made it very clear that she doesn't want her memories back or anything to do with us either."

"Qetsiyah wanting you out of the picture and away from Bonnie doesn't make any sense to you? After the ones before you betrayed her descendants and made them their servants?" Silas tilts his head "Okay," he concedes with a lift of his shoulders, moving on to the latter of her refute "Yes," he nods agreeing with her assessment "with _you_. Not Stefan." He points out.

"Who has also made it clear-"

"You are lucky that nature decided to step in and find a way to correct the balance that Qetsiyah's spell interrupted." Silas cuts Elena off with a sigh leaving Elena to look affronted, Caroline to fold her lips and close her eyes while Silas effortlessly catches the makeshift stake that Damon tosses in his direction before going into the elder Salvatore's mind and making him think that he been thrown in a well filled with vervain. Watching as the elder Salvatore flails around gasping for air, ending the illusion when he sees blood trailing from the dark haired vampire's nose.

"Damon, you disappoint me," Silas states watching as he rises from the floor with the aid of his girlfriend "If I were you I'd make sure that it didn't happen again. Or the next time you try this," he holds up the stake "it goes in your brother's heart while your girlfriend watches you do it. And the little witch will never get her memories back. I thought about compelling Elena to drive it through your's but what would be the point in that when the Other Side is going to be destroyed so you wouldn't be forced to watch them live out their happily ever after?" Silas questions as he walks up to Damon clapping his hand over his shoulder before ramming the stake in his stomach.

"As I was saying, you're going to send Stefan to Bonnie and let nature take its course. I'll take things over from there. I want Katherine brought to me no later than next week, if she's not, I'll take the next best thing until she is." He directs his demand towards Damon who's eyes flare with anger and he smirks, turning on his heel to leave not wanting to spend any more time with them than necessary.

Upon the immortal's exit the remaining occupants of the room exchange glances.

"No," Jeremy frowns as soon as Damon looks at him.

"If you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it." Damon replies with a taunting smile waiting for him to say something "That's what I thought. She responded to Stefan better than she did anyone else. Even to you from what I heard." He adds when he sees the glare Caroline is sending his way.

"Do you seriously not see how fucked up that is or do you just not care?" Matt questions, speaking for the first time since he's been in the room. Or to the meetings in general aside from the time of Bonnie's resurrection.

"It's a little bit of both." Caroline comments, still staring at Elena who has a pinched look on her face, the idea of Stefan and Bonnie clearly not sitting well with her.

Damon turns to the blonde vampire with a frown on his face watching as she briefly looks to Matt with a look as if to say "Told you so." before turning to him "You're actually considering trying to moonlight your little brother to his ex girlfriend's best friend so he can try to convince her to get their memories back when neither of them want them. Completely forgetting that even if they did, once their memories are returned they'll remember all of this and while Stefan might forgive you because he's Stefan. Bonnie will not and considering that I don't keep secrets from Bon, I won't leave out the fact that Elena didn't try to stop you when you convinced him to do this and you'll be responsible for ruining yet another one of Elena's relationships. Not that it'll matter because Elena will forgive you like she always does and after everything I'm starting to think that it's your goal. Cut everyone else out so she'll only have you." she turns to the brunette in question looking her dead in the eye as she says "It's working."

"Care-"

"Let's say that this did work and they remember everything. Then what? Are we all just going to go back to the way things were? No, things would be awkward. Bonnie and Stefan started something that neither of them would be able to finish because of their loyalty to you. Damon plays on their guilt whenever they don't want to help save our asses. Can you honestly tell me that I'm overreacting?" She asks, knowing that she's prone to do so, even though she doesn't really think that it's the case this time. But she's been wrong before.

"Can you honestly tell me that you don't want them to get their memories back?" Elena fires back tired of Caroline acting as if she doesn't want the same as she does.

Caroline stares at Elena for a full minute before laughing "My best friend wants as little to do with me as possible, of course I want her to get her memories back but it's better for her to act that way towards me because they're gone than to be sitting in the same room with her with every single one of them intact and not being able to even recognize her."

Elena opens and closes her mouth several times before pressing her lips together and looking away.

"I love you Elena, really I do but sometimes…" she stops and lets the sentence trail off before saying something that she won't be able to take back "but as far as anything that has to do with Stefan and Bonnie" she backtracks "I think it would be in your best interest to not say or do anything unless it starts with an apology and let them decide where your relationship with them goes from there. Silas is an ass but he didn't say anything that wasn't true. The fact that she didn't slam the door in our faces is something that we shouldn't take for granted."

Caroline shifts her gaze to Damon seeing the stormy look in his eyes "Unless this wasn't clear enough for you, I want nothing to do with this. I'm going on record as a no, you might be willing to destroy your relationship with them but I'm not. He was trapped in a safe drowning over and over while you were too blissed out to even care. Why would you want him to remember that? The fact that he knows you stole his girlfriend should be enough for you. You finally upped your little brother at something." she pauses "Now, if Stefan and Bonnie find their way to each other...which going by the way that he could barely keep his eyes off of her and invaded her personal space despite seeing how she took you down, I'm pretty sure it'll take more effort to keep Stefan _away_ from Bonnie opposed to having to convince him to go anywhere near her anyway. But as for actively playing cupid for Silas, my answer is no."

Elena bites the inside of her cheek when Caroline rises from her seat looking down at Matt who does the same, both blondes leaving the room without saying a word or bothering with so much as a parting glance.

* * *

"A party?" Stefan frowns setting down a stack of boxes inside Caroline's room of her shared dorm suite with Bonnie and Elena...or at least is supposed to since the blonde is the only one moving in.

"Yes," Caroline smiles turning to face him after moving her queen sized bed to her satisfaction, going over to boxes lining the wall looking for the one marked "Beauty." picking it up walking over to her vanity.

"I think I'm a little too old to be going to a party. It's strange enough that I willingly went to high school."

"Okay, you have a point but this is a _college_ party. As in everyone in attendance will be legal and you never know, there might be a couple of vampires that have a couple of centuries under their belt there too."

"You mean besides the teenagers that sneak in."

"Yes, but you'll be able to spot them from a mile away and avoid them."

Stefan sighs and opens his mouth to protest but doesn't get the chance to even get one word out as Caroline beats him to it,

"Please," she drags out with her hands clasped together "Bonnie pretty much turned me down," fighting the urge to smile when she sees the flash of interest in his eyes at the mention of the green eyed witch knowing that she has him despite the "fight" he's about to put up "Matt is working and I don't know when Tyler will be back, I can't take you telling me no too."

"Why can't you just go with Elena?"

She looks at him and lets her head fall to the side "Who?"

Stefan stares at her wondering where the hostility came from but knows better than to ask. It wasn't as if he were in any rush to see the doppelgänger either. He wouldn't say that he disliked the brunette but he didn't appreciate being led on to believe one thing only to have her throw a curveball at the last minute. Forcing those thoughts aside he shifts his attention back on to the topic at hand "Fine," he gives in "but I'm not dancing."

"Of course not." she smiles at him going back to placing various products on her vanity "So how is the house hunting going?"

"I found a space out in the woods, hired a construction team to restore it, add in upgrades."

Caroline scrunches her nose "I know that you're not exactly a people person but that's a little extreme even for you."

"It's the only place that's far enough from my brother, I doubt he'd willingly go out there for anything other than an unsuspecting camper."

Caroline snorts "Never underestimate the lengths Damon Salvatore will go to to get what he wants."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience." Stefan observes, leaning against her door frame, arms folded over his chest as he stares at her. Frowning when she shifts on her feet and turns her attention back to organizing.

"Unfortunately." She mutters, tucking a stray hair behind her ear, missing the concerned look in the vampire's eyes as he watches her move from her vanity, abandoning her task in favor of going to her closet, taking her clothes out of her suitcase and hanging them up, making a point of keeping her attention anywhere but on him.

"I'll go and get the rest of the boxes." He says sensing that she wants to be alone, smiling when he sees the flash of gratitude in her eyes before she returns his smile with a nod.

* * *

Qetsiyah is walking through the woods, making her way back to her cabin from her gathering expedition when she hears a strong rush of wind and she immediately feels her magick flare to life and allows it to surround her in case the arrival has plans to attack. Only to sigh and roll her eyes when she turns to be greeted with the sight of Damon Salvatore leaning against a tree staring right back at her as if she were the one that were pestering him.

She waits for him to say something, give her the reason behind his sudden appearance and when he doesn't she hikes her basket filled to the brim with herbs higher against her hip and turns to continue to make her way back to her home for the time being only to have her path blocked.

"Silas filled me in on your little plan."

"Oh did he now?" She questions dryly, making an effort to keep her face neutral at the mention of her ex "Let me guess, he thinks that I'm trying to fix my wrongs?"

Damon blinks in response staring at her for any signs that Silas had any merit, forcing himself to not show any outward reaction when she smirks and shakes her head as if she were amused by it all.

"If that were my goal then I would eliminate the sources, or just go back in time and stop myself from creating the elixir in the first place. Why go through all of this?" she raises her free hand when his lips part "No, no, wasn't a real question. I'm not sure what your visit was supposed to accomplish but you've voided our deal. From the sounds of it, it seems as if you sided with Silas and even if that weren't the case you've allowed him to get into that pretty little head of yours. So your services are no longer wanted or needed."

Damon frowns watching as she walks around him and he lets out a groan before turning around and rushing to walk by her side "What do you mean, our deal is void?"

"You help me kill Silas after I bring Bonnie back to life. Originally I was going to return their memories to them after Silas was dead, minus their summers of torment but you've shown that you can't be trusted. Not that I expected otherwise."

"He came to me, and you never mentioned anything about returning their memories."

"As he always does when he doesn't feel like doing something himself." She comments ignoring the latter of his excuse.

"He wants Bonnie and Stefan together." He reveals in hopes of gaining her attention.

Qetsiyah stops mid step and turns to Damon "He wants what?"

"He wants them together so Stefan will be distracted, and he wants both Bonnie and Katherine." he admits watching as her eyes go wide before narrowing as her features contort into a scowl "I'll keep Katherine away from him if you protect Elena." He offers seeing that he's caught her attention.

"You've already shown that you can't be trusted."

"And I'm just supposed to believe that you're going to live up to your end?"

"Well I did bring Bonnie back to life." She reminds him.

"Without her memories!" he points out "She could have killed us all."

"And your death affects me, how?" she tilts her head "I'm not going out of my way to keep the doppelgänger out of harm's way. She's a vampire, if she can't protect herself then she is a lost cause. What you really want is a witch in your back pocket and that's not what I'm here for, neither is it up for discussion. It's clear that we don't trust each other, so there's no point in even continuing this conversation."

"You need me."

"For what, exactly?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Silas won't go anywhere near you."

"Your point?"

"You need someone that he will."

"And you think that's you. You don't think I can't find another vampire to cozy up next to him?"

"Not one that he'll trust."

Qetsiyah looks at him as if to ask if that were supposed to work. If he honestly expected that was going to make her believe that she needed him.

"He trusts that I want to keep Elena safe and so do you for that matter." He states knowing that she won't be able to deny that.

"I'm not returning their memories until he's dead and that's final." She says holding his gaze making it clear that no matter what happens that that's the one thing that she won't change her mind on. Though she really has no plans on even doing that. At least not for Bonnie, her descendant was finally acting like the woman that she was always supposed to be. Without her memories of Elena, Bonnie seemed to have a chance at living up to her potential. No way was she going to put a stop to that.

"Do we have a deal or not?" Damon asks, annoyance dripping from his voice.

"Bring Katherine to my cabin, and we'll go from there."

Damon frowns at Qetsiyah noticing the calculating look in her eyes and he wonders if he's missing something or if she just wants Katherine because Silas does.

"No questions, just get it done." Qetsiyah dismisses him, disappearing through the trees leaving Damon standing there with a frown on his face before he turns to speed back to the boarding house.

* * *

"You want me to do what?" Katherine looks up at Damon as if to ask if he were serious then to Elena who seems annoyed despite the two showing up to her home unannounced. After Stefan's return with no memories and his prompt exit after finding out that Elena had only been leading him on. She decided that it would be in her best interest to move out. Now that she was human, she could have a home in her name which meant no vampires could get in unless she said so. It did nothing when it came to Silas but from what the immortal has led on, she's more valuable alive than dead. Even if that weren't the case it wasn't as if Mystic Falls' finest would die to protect her anyway.

"It's either you go to-"

"A powerful immortal, who could be you or her right now for all I know, or an ancient witch who hates the woman that I share a face with. Yeah, I got it. Neither sound very appealing."

"Or you can stay here, unprotected and up for grabs by whichever gets to you on their own first." He retorts with a satisfied smile.

"I should've killed you when I had the chance." she accidently voices her thoughts, though chooses to continue when she sees the effect it's having "So many opportunities to just rip your heart out...at least in a physical sense this time." smiling when the smile on his face drops "What are you getting out of this?"

"My brother. And you out of my life for good if things go well."

She snorts at that "If you really wanted Stefan you wouldn't be here with me. You'd be taking advantage of his memories being gone and rebuilding your brotherhood. At this point, it's your best shot at having any sort of relationship with him. And if you really hated me you wouldn't be able to be with someone that looks exactly like me. But whatever you need to tell yourself to keep what little sanity you have left." she says with a casual lift of her shoulders "Where is Qetsiyah?"

Damon frowns at her reply but doesn't get to dwell on it for very long, thrown off by how easily she went, he thought she would have been more difficult even if it were just for show.

"She's a witch, a powerful one at that and powerful witches are all about give and take. I have something that she wants so she might be willing to cut a deal with me. Reverse this" she waves her hand down her body "if I go willingly with her. Silas can only mess with my mind, make me think I'm getting what I want. At least Qetsiyah will let me know if I actually have a deal or not." She reasons out loud.

"Are you coming or not?" Elena blurts.

"Ooh, someone's awfully feisty. This wouldn't have anything to do with Stefan not wanting anything to do with you anymore, would it?"

Elena opens her mouth but closes it after seeing Damon eyeing her from the corner of her eye, looking away from Katherine when the corner of her mirror image's lips quirks upward.

"When does she want me?"

"Now,"

Katherine looks at her ex as if he were crazy "You're kidding, right? I'm not going anywhere with you. Send Matt and or Care Bear or you'll be on both of their shit lists. Matty knows where I'm staying so there's no need for you to send him the address." She smiles at Damon, taking a step back, winking at Elena who looks mortified at the implication before closing the door in their faces.

"He's not that stupid." Damon says through a grimace.


	5. Chapter 5

He comes across her on the edge of the watering hole and he can't help but wonder just how much of her memories are gone. He had heard from Caroline and Matt about Bonnie being dead for months before any of them had noticed. The distress mixed with relief in both his girlfriend's and best friend's voices still fresh in his mind from when they told him about Bonnie's resurrection despite the side effect that came with it.

But when she turns to face him, he can't help the part of him that thinks that she's not missing them at all.

"I found some pictures while I was cleaning." Bonnie starts, feeling the need to explain herself for some reason "This was one of the very few places where my smile actually seemed genuine...at least in the pictures where I don't look like a child." she pauses, her eyes searching his "You're one of them, right?"

"You have the look in your eyes. It's almost like Damon's," she stops and smiles when she sees the annoyed look mixed with anger at the comparison "I meant in the sense of not exactly liking that I don't remember you. With the others it's sadness, wounded that I don't remember who or what they are to me. Or that I don't believe who they claim I am to them. I can feel their hurt suffocating me and it leaves this ache even after they're gone. So just to satiate my curiosity, what were you to me?"

At the question he looks down, clearing his throat, only looking back up when he hears a soft "Oh," to see Bonnie staring back at him eyes wide, a hint of red coloring her cheeks.

"Either you're Tyler, or this is about to get even more awkward than it already is."

Tyler cracks a smile "It's nice to see you again, B."

She feels a tug at the corner of her lips and nods at his sentiment. Finding it odd that it's the first time that she's felt at ease around a member of her apparent social circle. So when he takes a cautious step towards her she doesn't protest, watching as he takes a seat right next to her.

"So everything is just gone?" He asks after several moments of silence.

"Not everything," she answers "I know the basics about myself; my name, my age, my birthday, where I live, what college acceptance letters I got. But when it comes to people," she pauses "Vivid memories, I can get but only when they're all beaming them into my head. So either I'm a empath or I do have some kind of bond with them despite everything. Since I've been here" she motions around their general area "I've gotten bits and pieces, flashes of memories and when I come out of it I'm smiling but it's not enough to want them back. I don't like the person that I was, I don't understand why I was so loyal to these people. At the same time; Caroline is like a distant calling, a beacon. Matt feels like a safe haven...I think it's his eyes. I haven't seen him aside from my resurrection but it's stuck with me, he was the only one that I feel bad about not remembering and the only one that I felt some phantom connection to. The hunter...it was more like a want, but only to feel something, if I cared about him enough to die for him then why don't I feel anything other than confusion at why I did it in the first place? For all of Elena's claiming of how close we are, why don't I feel anything towards her? Stefan...red flags, I almost killed his brother and he didn't seem to care, but...I don't know. It might just be because he's cute. But you're the only one that I'm not anxious around. You've barely said two words to me and this is the most I've spoken in weeks. Which is weird because you're probably the most lethal of them all."

"In regards of how much effort I'd have to put in to put you down." She explains when she sees the furrow of his brows.

Tyler nods "Hybrid; half vampire, half werewolf."

"I know. You're the only one that I feel some kind of pull to on a purely superficial level. Witches and wolves tend to be drawn to one another. Both are connected to nature, anchored to the pseudo supernatural alter ego that we have to keep suppressed and dormant to not draw attention to ourselves and are curious about the unmatched power. My ancestors referred to it as letting the witch come out…"

"...come out to play with the wolf."

They both say at the same time, looking away from the other with matching grins.

"I take it Caroline doesn't know."

"You said and I quote "There is no need to let Caroline know that I fell victim to the school slut."."

Bonnie's eyes widen.

"You told her when you were drunk, all she wanted to know was when, didn't really care since it was before we got together. She didn't like it but felt that she didn't have the right to judge considering who came before me. And we don't talk about it, but it's why _we_ stopped talking as much as we used to. You felt weird about being friends with your best friend's boyfriend who you…"

"Gave it up to." She supplies when he trails off.

Tyler only rubs the back of his neck, unsure of how to respond or go from the point of where their conversation has lead them.

"Then why are you the only one that I don't dread talking to?"

"I'm not pushing on how close we are. I'm not offended that you don't want to be around me. We're not as close as we used to be, our history is complex and strained, so maybe you don't expect anything from me."

"That's depressing."

"A perfect summary of the last three years of our lives." he mutters "I know I'm not supposed to be okay with you not wanting your memories but if anyone deserves a clean slate, it's you. So just know that if they do come back, I had nothing to do with it, and going by how Caroline has been acting...despite the crying, which I'm not trying to guilt you for by the way" he rushes to get out "I think she's starting to feel the same way."

"Smooth," Bonnie grins.

"I'm not trying to change your mind but I don't think you should shut everyone out. Forget what everyone has said to you and whatever you read in your diary and old text messages out and follow your gut. It hasn't been wrong before. You just let your little martyr complex get in the way. Don't do it again."

"Except for you?"

"No," He shakes his head watching the surprise flash across her features but quickly recovers and nods her head as she says,

"Thank you."

"For what?" He frowns thrown off by her words and the gratitude in her eyes.

Bonnie only smiles in response, outright grinning when he only looks even more confused.

* * *

"You smell like the witch." Damon comments when Tyler finally walks into the living room of the boarding house. Wondering why the hybrid was even here in the first place. Out of everyone, Damon had pegged Tyler to be the last person to give even the slightest bit of a damn about their current situation. Aside from the time Bonnie had somehow managed to talk him into being Klaus' temporary host, Damon can't remember a time that Tyler or Bonnie even hinted that they knew that the other existed.

Tyler frowns at the greeting then turns to Caroline who now has a slight frown of her own on her face making it clear that she has picked up Bonnie's scent as well and is not happy with the implication.

"Tyler," Caroline says his name slowly when the hybrid doesn't say anything.

"I was in the woods, picked up her scent and followed it. We talked for a while then I walked her home." He answers, taking in the strange looks he's getting from everyone in stride.

"Bonnie talked to you?" Elena speaks up wondering how Tyler Lockwood of all people was able to spend more time with her best friend than she or Caroline had.

"Yeah,"

"Did she tell you what she was doing there?" Elena inquires wanting to get as much information as she can.

"She said that it was one of the places that her smile looked genuine in the pictures she looked through so she decided to go and check it out. Wanted to see if it held a happy memory, if anyone would be there since it was a regular background. She mentioned that she got glimpses of pushing Caroline in the water, the matching casts she got with you from when you broke your arms when Caroline got her revenge accidently taking you down with her. Us setting up the tire swing and Matt teaching her how to swim."

"Anything else?" Caroline urges him to go on.

"Just to tell her my honest opinion on everyone."

"And she trusted you to do that for her." Damon steps in staring at the hybrid.

"I think so."

"You think so?" Damon repeats mockingly.

"Well I never suggested that she gives you a second chance so yeah, I think it's safe to say that she trusts my judgement." Tyler replies with a smile.

"Damon," Elena calls after the vampire when she sees him take a step towards Tyler, knowing that despite the age difference it probably wouldn't end in his favor. Giving him a look when he shifts his gaze back to her before taking matters into her own hands.

"Qetsiyah wants Katherine but she says that she'll only go if you or Matt take her."

Caroline feels her eyebrows nearly shoot to her hairline "Me? Why?"

"She trusts you more than she does us and I don't trust her with Matt. You know how she almost killed Jeremy when she thought that we were going to hand her over to Silas the first time."

"So my life is less valuable than Matt's?" Caroline frowns. Logically speaking she knows that Elena is only asking because she stands more of a chance against the former vampire than Matt does. And just as the brunette she would never put him up to it. At least not without her assistance or back up. She can't help but feel offense at the underlying implication.

"You know that I didn't mean it like that." Elena says with a shake of her head "And after the last time you guys teamed up I didn't think you'd mind." She adds, her voice taking on a bitter tone.

Caroline stares at her friend for a moment "She's in the condo on Main?"

Elena frowns.

"We saw a sign when we went to get our nails done before she impersonated you." She reveals rising from her seat "Just tell me where I can find Qetsiyah."

"She's in a cabin not far from the quarry." Elena answers feeling guilt flood her at the mention of where Stefan spent his summer.

Caroline nods then turns to Tyler, nearly laughing when she sees that he's already on his feet ready for her to lead the way.

"I'll text you when it's done." She says making a point of looking at Elena before leaving not bothering to address Damon at all. Not that he seems to mind. His attention on the glass in his hand.

* * *

He's just exiting the building housing Elena's shared dorm suite, having just gotten done with unloading the last of her bags when he sees a familiar face walking across the courtyard heading towards the on campus cafeteria. Or at least he thinks it's her, the change of her appearance from her hair to the clothes that are far from what he's grown use to seeing her in giving him pause but he'd know those emerald eyes and the call of her scent anywhere. He decides to wait five minutes before quickly doing the same not wanting to give her the chance to get away and not wanting her to think that he's been shadowing her. Despite this genuinely being a coincidence, he knows that she wouldn't buy it. Out of all places to see her this was truly the last place he expected. And probably the one to at least play in his favor. He doubts that she'd make a move against him in a room filled with innocent bystanders, all living in blissful ignorance of the threats surrounding them.

It only takes him a second to spot her in the crowded room. Taking a seat at an empty table towards the back.

"You are a surprisingly hard person to find." he starts once he's sure he's in earshot stopping just before the empty chair directly in front of her "Where have you been?"

She stares at him blankly for a full two minutes before a scowl settles on her features, recognition clearly setting in. It's been awhile since he's been on the receiving end of her glare promising death and despite it all he finds it oddly comforting.

"Hiding from you." She answers without skipping a beat watching as he smiles and nods approvingly.

"Mind if I sit?"

"If I said that I did, would it really make a difference to you? You seem like the type that gets off on others discomfort."

Damon only stares at her, a smile breaking across his face at her snark, mentally conceding as he pulls out the chair and takes the seat across from her.

"What do you want?" She asks skipping all pleasantries.

"Why do you always assume that I want something?"

"I imagine that it has always saved time."

He laughs at that and leans forward, elbows on the table deciding to answer her question.

"I know that you don't want your memories back and all but I really need-"

"I'm not sure what's worse;" she abruptly cuts him off, not even bothering to pretend as if she cares or will even entertain whatever case he's about to try to make "the fact that you genuinely believe that I'm in the wrong here or that you thought that playing on my nonexistent guilt would actually work in your favor."

"You may not like me-"

"There's no may, I definitely don't like you."

"but you know that I'm right." He finishes despite her interruption. Knowing that at this rate that he's never going to get out a full sentence.

"I can tell that you really believe that but I'm going to let you in on a little secret," she pauses waiting until she feels as though she has his full attention "I don't want my memories back. And because I don't want them back I don't have to worry about feeling bad about any of this if they return because it's never going to happen. You constantly coming to me trying to manipulate me is proof that it can only be done by me." she fights the urge to smile when she sees him deflate, proving what was previously only her theory to be correct "But if they do and I feel bad about this then you have every right to throw it in my face. Because if I go back to being that person again, knowing that you guys didn't notice that anything was wrong with me until you needed my help then…" she trails off and shrugs "But until then, I'm going to enjoy my life. And if you want to keep yours you'll let me and stay the hell out of my way."

"As far as your brother, that's none of my business. I understand where you're coming from but if you really care about him you'll stop trying to force this on him. You stole his girlfriend, why would you want him to remember that?"

"For someone that doesn't remember anything you sure don't sound like it."

"For someone that seems to know me so damn well you sure don't sound like it either."

"I just want my brother back."

"You have him, you just don't have his trust and loyalty because you haven't shown him that you deserve it."

"Is that what this is about?" He asks through a laugh, as if everything was finally making sense.

Bonnie frowns and leans back in her seat as he goes on.

"You want us to show you that we deserve the old you?"

"How do you not see the problem with the old me?" she asks exasperated "You were alive during the time period where the way I was behaving was actually the norm. The only difference is you called me by my birth name and I could walk around freely until you needed me. And when you did I dropped everything to come and do whatever you asked or forced me into doing. I didn't have a life outside of whatever you had going on. And I was fine with that. I died bringing someone that cheated on me back to life for someone that almost killed me. It's not a question on whether anyone deserves me. It's that _I_ don't deserve to be treated like that or fine with going back to the way things were before. Especially for people that have made attempts on my life and don't look my way until they need something from me."

Damon can only stare back at her, her words slowly sinking in and despite the part of him that is reminding him who this is all for he swallows and nods his head.

"Okay,"

Bonnie blinks feeling her rage slowly start to subside but quickly remembers who she's dealing with and wonders how many times he's done this for him to think that she would take this at face value.

"I'm not Elena, Damon. But I'm not the Bonnie you're used to dealing with either. Try to change my mind or force my hand again and you won't have a choice but to drop this."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that the person that stopped me from ending you won't be enough to stop me anymore. If I feel that you are a threat to my life or my choice I won't hesitate to put you down."

"I'm not a dog."

"And I'm not a servant." She fires back, staring back at him unflinchingly.

* * *

The irony of the ink marking the inside of her wrist is not lost on her and she thinks that her ancestor has a sense of humor that compliments her personality perfectly from what she's done to her.

She wonders what prompted the tattoo in the first place and wonders if Stefan has one similar to it as well.

Despite not knowing anything about the woman aside from her name and that she was the progenitor of her line she would not put it past her.

Half of her wants to go and find her but she doesn't know if she'd want answers as to why the woman did this to her or if she'd merely thank her and move on with her life. With her run in with Damon still swirling in her mind, she thinks it might be the latter.

Pushing her thoughts to the side she stares at the number currently dialed on her phone before hitting the green button and raising the device to her ear, counting the rings until a voice rings out from the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Bonnie answers, frowning when she's met with several moments of silence before a rush of words assault her ears bringing a smile to her face.

"Bonnie?" she hears the blonde call her name and she can picture the vampire sitting upright with a baffled look on her face "Is everything okay? Are you lost? Do you need me to come and get you?" Caroline pauses for a second "If this is some sick joke I swear I will-"

"I'll go to the party." Bonnie puts a stop to the threat as she eyes the paper that was thrusted into her hand when she went to meet with her guidance counselor by a guy that she was pretty sure was undressing her with his eyes the whole time as he went on and on about it, on her desk. Figuring that it was the same party that the blonde currently on the other end of the line was trying to get her to go to.

"Caroline?" Bonnie calls out when a full minute goes by and she's yet to get a response.

"This isn't because of Tyler, is it? I don't want you to feel obligated to give me a chance because of whatever he said."

"It is," Bonnie admits not wanting to lie to her "but I don't think that I should go to a party without someone that will be able to tell when it's time to intervene if things go...overboard and cut me off and take me home with it just being that."

Caroline wants to be offended because she's essentially being used as a bodyguard but the explanation sends her back to the first time Bonnie allowed her to drag her to their first high school party despite Elena trying to convince Bonnie to go with her first. The memory of the look on the doppelgänger's face when the witch walked in on her arm instead of the brunette's own still bringing a smile to her face but drops when she hears a sigh from the other end of the line.

"Nevermind," Bonnie starts to retract her request knowing that it wasn't exactly fair of her after the way that she's been brushing her off "I shouldn't have-"

"No!" Caroline rushes to get out "It's just that it sounded like the time you let me convince you to sneak out so we could go to the back to school party in sophmore year. I'm pretty sure it was because you didn't want me doing something that I'd regret," she admits in a self deprecating tone "but still." Feeling a tug at the corner of her lips when her explanation gains a laugh she hasn't heard in what feels like a lifetime.

"I don't want to jump to conclusions but does this mean that I get to-"

"You're not picking out my clothes." Bonnie cuts her off, grinning when she hears a long drawn out breath followed by a resigned,

"Fine," Caroline sighs, and despite wanting to keep the conversation going she decides to end it before she puts a stop to their progress by overstepping or pushing her luck. But Bonnie beats her to it.

"Um, I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Yes," Caroline readily voices her agreement, picking up on the fact that it sounded more like a question than anything else.

Bonnie smiles returning the blonde's "Goodbye," blinking when she hears the sound of her doorbell and cautiously makes her way down the stairs. She hadn't been expecting anyone and considering the last time she had an uninvited guest, she's not exactly happy about the prospect. Though continues on nonetheless, placing her hands against her door and rising to the tip of her toes to get a glimpse of who's on the other side. Feeling every bit of confused when she senses a hint of familiarity radiating from them despite not being able to see much of them, aside from a mass of untamed curls. Curiosity peaked she steps back and opens the door looking at them patiently as she waits for them to say something or at least raise their head. And when they do she feels her breath catch in her throat as recognition slowly settles in. The woman from the lone picture. The woman who she was supposedly off spending her summer with staring back at her looking the picture of guilt.

"Hello Bonnie,"


	6. Chapter 6

As she sits directly across from the doppelgänger staring right back at her just as curiously she thinks it's funny how things work out. The girl sitting across from her is what she paints Amara out to be in her mind. Whilst the one that reminds her of her old handmaiden to the t is standing in the corner watching her quiet scrutiny in silence. Clearly weary of the situation and worried of a potential fight but knows better than to say a word or come a step closer until required. A drastic change from the one that came before her. Being proved as such not even a second later.

"I told her not to come but Bonnie called Caroline—the blonde one" Katherine supplies seeing the furrow of Qetsiyah's brow "and she couldn't _not_ go, so…"

The slight tilt of Qetsiyah's head is the closest that Katherine gets to a response and the former vampire huffs out her frustration

"I know that you don't owe me anything and even if you did you probably wouldn't care" Katherine acknowledges, jumping when Qetsiyah laughs. Taken back by the airy tone to it but quickly recovers. "but can you at least tell me why I'm suddenly so important? From what I've heard you've been back for months and Silas was nowhere to be found while I was fighting for my life on a daily basis. But all of a sudden the both of you want nothing more but for me to be in your possession."

Qetsiyah nods.

"Why?"

"What happens when you die with a vampire's blood in your system?"

"You become a vampire." Katherine answers managing to fight the urge to roll her eyes and mask her annoyance in her voice. Getting the feeling that it would do her no favors. Witches, always one for riddles and Qetsiyah was unfortunately not the exception to the rule.

"Right," Qetsiyah confirms "So what do you suppose happens when you take the cure?"

Katherine blinks once, then twice. Sitting up straight in her seat before taking a quick glance in her knockoff's direction seeing that Elena only looks confused. The brunette's mind not having managed to put two plus two together quite yet. She's never been so happy to have Elena as her backup in her life and is equally as such that the situation were not reversed. As she would have made her escape from the cabin with the doe eyed trouble magnet in tow as soon as her current state was made public knowledge. Off to a private island after leaving her on Silas' doorstep as a parting gift.

"I see why Silas would want me but why do you?" Katherine asks me in a low voice despite knowing that it makes no difference as long as her shadow self is hovering in the background.

"Because if I have you Silas doesn't," Qetsiyah begins her answer "and because he will not be able to get to you, he'll spend his time looking for the anchor. With his attention elsewhere I will do what needs to be done. By the time he finds the anchor you will no longer be of any use to him—or anyone, really—and free to go and do whatever your shriveled black heart desires."

"So that's it," Katherine nearly growls "I'm just a pawn that you're holding onto until you don't need me anymore?"

"Would you rather I take a page from your book and kill you once I'm done?"

"I was hoping for more of the opposite." Katherine replies leaning back in her seat.

"Oh?" Qetsiyah looks at her seeming genuinely interested in what she has to say.

"More of a reverse of Silas and I."

"And what would be in that for me?"

"You want Silas to be trapped on the Other Side. If the anchor is truly something he can't go through with destroying. You get what you want and I would get the same."

"Well, yes," Qetsiyah concedes to Katherine's point "but why would I do that?"

"Because I don't want to be human."

Qetsiyah makes a motion with her hand as if to say that Katherine made her own point of in the grand scheme of things her proposition really only ends with it all working out in the doppelgänger's favor. While Katherine would be out of her current situation, Qetsiyah would still be left to find a way to put her ex down on her own. To which the Petrova rolls her eyes and gets up from her seat.

"I've never done anything to you."

"Except force my descendant's hand into becoming your slave." Qetsiyah replies without a second of hesitation.

"Emily was not my slave." Katherine denies Qetsiyah's accusation as if she offended her "She was my handmaiden and...dear friend." The Petrova bites out the latter part of what she considered Emily to be. In truth she did consider Emily to be a friend until she caught on to the Bennett witch enchanting Johnathan Gilbert's inventions. While Emily had in fact been keeping her end of the the unspoken rule of a witch owing a vampire a favor in return for saving said witch's life. The crafty little thing was plotting her escape from Katherine's clutches all the while. What everyone else saw as a betrayal on Katherine's part, Katherine saw as one tip off for another.

"Handmaiden," Qetsiyah laughs, once again being reminded of how her actions switched the roles between Amara's and her own descendants "that you had carry out whatever you asked of her with the reminder that you saved her life whenever she dared to show an ounce of hesitation or defiance. And dear friend that you sold out to the council in order to distract everyone from your escape without a second thought. I would say that I would hate to see how you treat your enemies but I already know how that story goes."

"For someone that detests the sight of me you're coming off as more of a stalker."

"As long as Amara's doppelgängers insist on being a part of my descendant's lives I have no choice but to see those annoying brown eyes and hear that ear grating voice. Fortunately for me I just might have successfully put an end to this pattern I unintentionally started."

"So Silas was right," Elena breathes, breaking her silence causing all eyes to go to her and she pushes herself off of the wall as she continues with newfound confidence "He said that you did this to put a stop to history repeating. To fix what should have been, if he never met Amara and hadn't-"

"Left me at the altar." Qetsiyah cuts Elena off "Yes I know. There is no need to fill me in. I was there. However Bonnie and Stefan looking at each other longer than everyone is used to or were ever expecting is not my doing." the witch dismisses the doe eyed doppelgänger's unfinished accusation "Wasn't a part of my plan but can't say I mind all that much. In fact I think Bonnie deserves to have some fun for once. Can you do the same?"

Elena purses her lips and looks away ignoring the smirk her silence earns from Katherine. While she would love for Bonnie to be happy, she still can't say that she would happily give her blessing for her friend to start a relationship with her ex. Even if she had managed to do just that for Caroline. Then again it wasn't as if such a thing was needed as neither remember or care for her at the moment.

"Did I mention that Elena and the rest of her small following wouldn't like it if I held the same abilities of your creation?"

"Did I mention that Elena is far from my immediate concern? For once she's not the one that the latest 'villain' is targeting." Qetsiyah choses her words to let them know that she's very much aware of how they all view her and just as known that it doesn't bother her "I do not care what affects her. I am here to put Silas down. That cannot happen if Bonnie is on defense because of a one sided loyalty to someone that does not acknowledge her until something requires her powers. Apparently I have not made myself clear so to do so," she pauses making a point of meeting each brunette's eyes "I do not care about Elena Gilbert. If it requires me to put her down for this to be proven I will not hesitate to do just that."

Under any other circumstance Katherine thinks she'd had loved each and every word that came from the progenitor of the Bennett line's mouth. But now she finds it to be a rather annoying inconvenience though quickly brightens as a thought occurs to her. If she managed to give the witch the slip and go to Silas, offering the cure in exchange for his assistance. She would actually get something out of her current situation other than the nonexistent security of a quiet human existence once all was said and done.

"So about that," Qetsiyah starts having gotten bits and pieces of the inner workings of the former vampire's mind "Silas will send you my way because he did not create the spell in the first place. That and I recently spelled my Grimoire so that only those of my bloodline and skill set can even see the spell. So far there's only one that meets the required standards and the one behind you managed to get on her bad side. So…" Qetsiyah trails off with a smug look on her face as Katherine's triumphant demeanor fades.

"What if I ask?" Katherine asks after a deafening silence and tension that threatens to suffocate her engulfs the room.

"We can find out together." Qetsiyah answers with a hint of a smile on her lips, clearly enjoying herself.

"Will you please make me an Immortal?"

"Sure," Qetsiyah answers after several moments of silence making both doppelgängers look back at her in surprise "As long as you agree to stay away from my bloodline. To keep us both in the loop and honest." the witch pauses until she feels as though she has both of their attention "If you agree to my terms, whenever you are around a Bennett you will lose your abilities. The only thing that their presence will not effect is your appearance. But if you stay too long," Qetsiyah holds out her hand using her magick to show Katherine speaking to Bonnie before the former goes up in flames leaving nothing but a pile of ash. In which Bonnie's only reaction is a frown before walking away from where Katherine once stood, afterwards putting a stop to her demonstration. "Deal?"

"So your terms are that I leave your bloodline alone." Katherine repeats, skepticism clear in both her voice and eyes as she stares at Qetsiyah. If she were to be honest, this wasn't a conflict to her at all. She had no plans of staying in Mystic Falls, for she never liked the town very much to begin with. It's only appeal was Stefan and he had no memory of her. Which would serve to work in her favor all things considered but just as Elena had apparently done with Bonnie. Katherine knew she didn't stand much of a chance in getting Stefan where she wanted him.

"Not just you," Qetsiyah shakes her head "Petrovas in general." she corrects the elder Petrova smiling when Katherine closes her eyes "I'll let you two talk it over." The eldest Bennett witch smiles and rises from her seat and strolls out of the room. Grabbing a bottle of wine from the kitchen before going to start to run the water for her bath. Smiling as soon as the word 'No,' hits her ears.

* * *

With a push to her car door, Caroline Forbes makes her way up the pavement of the driveway with measured steps. Feeling her excitement and happiness slowly morph into reservation and anxiousness the closer she gets to her friend's home. Pushing her way through her ongrowing apprehension she makes it to the door, hand posed to push the button signaling her arrival when she picks up a faint scent. The moment she puts a face to it she takes a step away on reflex and starts to turn on her heel, ready to go back to her car as her hand goes to the pocket of her skirt to alert someone to the development. When she's stopped by the door opening and sees Bonnie staring back at her with a hesitant smile, a hint of red coloring the witch's face at her reaction to her appearance.

"Damn," Caroline breathes out taking in the sight Bonnie is serving. Instantly regretting her choice of a white lace crop top, floral flare skirt with red ankle boots completing her look. Though instantly sobers when she spots the formings of a frown on Bonnie's face once her childhood friend notices her odd stance.

"I…" Caroline starts but then stops knowing better than to lie "I don't even know who I was going to tell. No one would have a good reaction to it. I...is she still here?"

"No," Bonnie answers, taking a step outside.

"You're not mad?" Caroline inquired as Bonnie pulls the door closed behind her.

"No," Bonnie answers again "I would probably want to tell everyone if there was a possibility that my amnesiac friend may have been filled in by her mother who doesn't like them very much. But there's not really anything anyone can do to me if they tried. Well aside from complain but I don't care. From what I've gathered she's not exactly all that reliable. Mother or not, I trust her about as much as I trust everyone else." Bonnie shrugs "Are you?"

"More hurt than anything else," Caroline answers more to herself than to Bonnie "but it isn't anything that I don't deserve."

Bonnie bites the inside of her cheek and nods despite the twinge she feels "So does this mean we should cancel?"

"Nice try," Caroline snorts.

Bonnie looks down to hide the smile pulling at her lips, following the blonde's lead to her car.

"It sounded like you were in the middle of something when I called. If you want to check in on Elena-"

"Absolutely not," Caroline abruptly cuts her off "and even if I was, me and Elena are both in unspoken agreement that we will ditch each other in heartbeat if you called."

Bonnie chooses to not respond to that declaration. She didn't really know how to and she wonders just how much of a part she has to do with whatever was going on between the two. If she were to be honest she didn't really get the feeling that the two vampires were as close as everyone thought them to be. The more thought she gave it, the more the two barely seemed to be friends.

"But to answer your question," Caroline brings Bonnie out of her thoughts, turning to start her car "I was taking Katherine to Qetsiyah for whatever reason but you called so Elena had to take her instead."

"Katherine," Bonnie repeats trying to put a face to the name but coming up blank.

"Elena's psychotic ancestor that looks exactly her. Except with curly hair, narrow eyes, better fashion sense and no filter."

"Sounds like you like her better than you're trying to lead on."

Caroline feels a bit of guilt hit her at the observation "Sometimes I think I do." she mutters as she peels out onto the road "But then I remember that we probably wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for what Katherine started. Elena and I wouldn't be vampires, meaning none of what followed after that would have happened. But the thing is, I like who I am now. I don't like that I'm stuck being seventeen for the rest of my immortality but I won't need to resort to drastic measures to not look my age. I'm strong, fast, and...well hot."

"That is true," Bonnie agrees, laughing at the look of shock that flashes across the blonde's face before she winks at her.

* * *

Music blasts from the speakers as intoxicated students stumble around the room while others are grinding against each other on the makeshift dance floor. The ones more on the sober side mingling as they attempt to reach the others in attendance inebriated states. While Tyler Lockwood shifts awkwardly on his feet from his place at Stefan Salvatore's left as the two stand side by side. Taking periodical drinks from the red cups in their hands looking everywhere but at each other.

"So I take it that we're not exactly friends." Stefan observes breaking the silence between them.

"Not really," Tyler answers seeing no point in pretending otherwise.

"Did one of us steal the other's girlfriend or something?"

"More like your brother—and possibly you—taking my uncle's life." Tyler mutters.

Stefan feels his eyebrows raise and his drink go down his windpipe. Figuring from the lack of the hybrid's concern to his own reaction that he wasn't joking.

"I'm sorry," Stefan offers sincerely once he recovers.

"I almost killed your brother and didn't really care if there was a way for him to survive so I guess we're almost even."

Stefan makes a non committed motion with his hand and goes to take another drink making Tyler fully realize how serious the situation was. Then again he couldn't say that he'd care much for his brother if he found out that he stole his girlfriend either.

"If we were friends," Tyler begins "I would ask how you're doing with that."

Stefan turns to the hybrid "My brother seems like a dick. Caroline and Elena insist that I wasn'tㅡdespite my journals proving otherwiseㅡso I mean, maybe it's karma for everything I did. But I also don't remember any of it." he rambles "So other than confused and annoyed at not being able to get drunk enough to forget it all I don't know."

"Yeah," Tyler grins, eyeing the contents of his cup. Then to the others in attendance that clearly don't have that problem. "but doesn't mean we can't try anyway."

"So when are you going to ask me about Bon?" Tyler asks when another bout of silence falls between them.

"I'm not," Stefan answers stilling at the reply that comes to his response that does not belong to the hybrid.

"That's good,"

Tyler drains the remainder of his cup. Afterwards turning to Stefan who nods and the hybrid doesn't hesitate at taking the out he's given. Disappearing into the kitchen to make himself a stronger drink, mentally prepare for whatever tongue lashing Caroline will give him later on for leaving the younger Salvatore's side. Especially in the company of his brother.

"Believe it or not, I'm looking out for you." Damon says and Stefan thinks he'd believe him if not for their sordid history constantly eating at him.

"By trying to talk me out of speaking to a woman who happens to genuinely not like you?"

"No," Damon answers, a note of bitterness to his tone, the barb not lost on him "By stopping you from starting something that you won't be able to finish."

"You honestly believe that don't you?" Stefan questions with a smile after a moment of staring at Damon who frowns in response causing Stefan's smile to grow wider.

"What are you talking about?"

"From what I've gathered, we tend to have the same taste in women. The only difference is is that this one—both with and without her memories—genuinely finds you repulsive. So if this does end up being another fight for her attention, this is one that you really have no chance at winning. Too much history, and considering her loyalty going by what Elena went on and on about. I'm getting the feeling that she wouldn't be too accepting of the advances of the man that broke up with her best friend to go after her. Unless she'd do it out of spite, but would you really want a relationship built on that?" Stefan pauses before continuing "Without her memories...you ruined that as soon as you tried to force her into doing something before she even knew your name."

"But she'll go for you."

Stefan raises his shoulders "No harm in me trying. And if you are right about me starting something that I can't finish then you have my blessing to never let me forget it. But until then, I really don't want to hear anything you have to say. Stay out of my business, ignore whatever I decide to do or to not do and I will do the same. Feel free to pass that on to your girlfriend."

Damon openly laughs at that "So that's what this is really about? You're pissed that I took your girlfriend."

"No, I'm just tired of people trying to convince me how important I am to them when they have proven the exact opposite. Imagine being led all around town, re-enacting a relationship only to find out that it's something you're no longer a part of. In fact she's with your brother now. Who spent the entirety of that relationship trying to take her away when it was clear that it was the happiest you had been in years. Which he knew and was the very reason he was doing that in the first place."

"And even though you know that he stole your girlfriend after losing every single memory of that. He still wants you to know more, wants you to remember every single minute of that. Is literally actively working for that to happen and trying to manipulate you into thinking that that is something that you should want. And on top of that he's trying to stop you from going after someone—mind you that your brother is in a relationship—who he had never once looked her way until you did."

"Do you really not see how fucked up this is? Even without my memories you are still making my life a living hell. But if you can tell me right now that Bonnie is off limits because something happened between you and her in the past then I will back off. I'll even leave town. Unlike you, I'd rather not relive any of that all over again. So am I missing something here, Damon?"

Damon swallows and averts his eyes from his brother's penetrating gaze wishing that he hadn't when his eyes land on a pair of narrowed baby blues staring directly at him before going to her right. When someone steps into his line of sight and he can do nothing but stare at the little witch who is obviously on a mission to give someone some serious jail time.

Annoyed by the lack of response Stefan turns to leave but stops when his eyes land on what must have caught his brother's attention. The subject of their conversation at the door looking around the room either oblivious or unfazed by the attention. Her hair drastically different from the last time he saw—not that he's complaining—in a long sleeved two piece red dress, showing off a sliver of a toned flat stomach paired with red strappy heels. And when she takes a step forward he finds his head tilting to the side admiring the curve before quickly averting his eyes just in time as she looks his way.

The only thing keeping him leaving his brother in his dust being a guy suddenly appearing at Bonnie's side, red cup in his hand. He feels his shoulders drop at the scene unfolding before him and starts to look elsewhere when the guy suddenly goes off in another direction. The reason becoming clear once he spots Tyler at Bonnie's side, handing her one of his own. To which Bonnie rolls her eyes but takes the cup as she turns to Caroline that takes the other that her boyfriend offers. The two taking off to another part of the frat house with Tyler following and Stefan turns back to his brother.

Damon waits impatiently when Stefan's lips part but close just as fast as he spots something over his shoulder. He doesn't need to look to know what caused it as Elena is already at his side. Staring at Stefan as if they were the only two in the room.

"Stefan," Elena breathes, eyes wide as ever waiting for his reply. It was the first time she'd seen him since he had left both Damon and herself high and dry. With the claim he wanted nothing to do with either of them. To say she was surprised to see him here of all places was an understatement. And she finds her hands going to smooth out the purple bandage dress hugging her figure.

"I need a refill," Is all the vampire says before turning and walking away from the couple.

Elena feels a twist at her gut but pushes the feeling down. Her hand going to push her hair back as she turns to Damon, making a point of ignoring the look in his eyes as she says,

"I think Katherine is the cure."

"What?" Damon frowns, her theory effectively breaking through his anger and gaining his full attention.

* * *

She's pouring her self made concoction into her waiting cup. Having finally managed to convince both Caroline and Tyler that she'd be fine on her own and to enjoy the party with just the other even if for only a song or two. After exiting the kitchen she lets her eyes scan the room until she spots the couple dancing. Caroline laughing as Tyler has his hands planted firmly on her hips pulling her backside to him as if she could possibly get closer. Being as though she is practically molded to him as he whispers something against her ear.

She turns to leave before Caroline spots her and ducks out into the backyard. Walking until she's at the balustrade and wiggles her way onto the railing, legs dangling off the side as she lets her eyes roam across the crowd of people gathered outside. She's raising her cup to her lips when she hears the door open and turns when she feels a tingling sensation on the inside of her wrist that she's come to associate with the presence of another supernatural. Greeted to the sight of a back and waits until they turn to face her.

"Hi," Bonnie says when it becomes clear that he's waiting for her to send him back inside or not.

"Hi," Stefan replies with a smile, taking a step towards her the moment she nods her head and quickly claims the seat next to her.


End file.
